Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions | Temple Grandin, PhD

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

WINNER OF THE NAUTILUS GOLD AWARD

“A powerful and provocative testament to the diverse coalition of minds we’ll need to face the mounting challenges of the twenty-first century.” —Steve Silberman

“An absolute eye-opener.” —Frans de Waal

A landmark book that reveals, celebrates, and advocates for the special minds and contributions of visual thinkers

A quarter of a century after her memoir, Thinking in Pictures, forever changed how the world understood autism, Temple Grandin— “an anthropologist on Mars,” as Oliver Sacks dubbed her—transforms our awareness of the different ways our brains are wired. Do you have a keen sense of direction, a love of puzzles, the ability to assemble furniture without crying? You are likely a visual thinker.

With her genius for demystifying science, Grandin draws on cutting-edge research to take us inside visual thinking. Visual thinkers constitute a far greater proportion of the population than previously believed, she reveals, and a more varied one, from the photo-realistic “object visualizers” like Grandin herself, with their intuitive knack for design and problem solving, to the abstract, mathematically inclined “visual spatial” thinkers who excel in pattern recognition and systemic thinking. She also makes us understand how a world increasingly geared to the verbal tends to sideline visual thinkers, screening them out at school and passing over them in the workplace. Rather than continuing to waste their singular gifts, driving a collective loss in productivity and innovation, Grandin proposes new approaches to educating, parenting, employing, and collaborating with visual thinkers. In a highly competitive world, this important book helps us see, we need every mind on board.

Editorial Reviews 

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of October 2022: The way we judge smarts and success is all wrong—and the fallout is holding people, and our country, back from greatness, Temple Grandin argues in her fascinating new book. Grandin posits that people can be sorted into two buckets: verbal thinkers (words, written and spoken) and visual thinkers (images). Standardized tests and one-size-fits-all educations weed out people who fall into the latter category, shutting out the ideas of millions of bright thinkers who could solve society’s most pressing problems. (Many people we consider geniuses, like Michelangelo and Thomas Edison, were visual thinkers—and Grandin wonders if they would have accomplished so much today.) Grandin also sprinkles in plenty of fun facts (you’ll never look at Ikea furniture the same way again), a quiz to determine what kind of thinker you are, a case for abolishing algebra, and an illuminating explanation of the brain, the all-powerful organ we know so little about. I’d like to give a copy of this book to every parent, teacher, and anyone who has ever struggled in school. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor

Review

Praise for Visual Thinking:

“Ms. Grandin has. . . written an indictment of America for its witting or unwitting dismissal of those hidden gifts. . . . Ms. Grandin crafts a strong depiction of visual thinking, assembling personal history, historical anecdotes, scientific studies and societal trends. At stake is more than manufacturing, but a vivid recognition of the full breadth of human ingenuity.” —Wall Street Journal

“All of us could benefit from realizin that we need different kinds of minds to solve society's biggest problems. Hopefully this book will inspire readers to look at the world in different ways so that we might better recognize the many assets each of us brings to the table.” —Science

“Drawing on cutting-edge research, the history of science, recent discoveries in creativity and innovation, and her own lived experience, Grandin has created a powerful and provocative testament to the diverse coalition of minds we'll need to face the mounting challenges of the twenty-first century.” —Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

“Those who believe that human intelligence rests on language are in for a sophisticated lesson from Temple Grandin, who better than anyone knows all the other ways of grasping the world. An absolute eye-opener.” —Frans de Waal, author of Mama’s Last Hug and Different

“Temple Grandin has concocted a delicious dish of provocative ideas and new research, served in clear, logical, fluid prose. What I love most about her work is herseamless fusion of scientific detachment and passionate empathy.” —Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind 

“If you want to understand how a self- described 'visual thinker' apprehends, understands, and explains the world, Temple Grandin's fine book is for you.” —Howard Gardner, author of Multiple Intelligences and Frames of Mind

Praise for Temple Grandin:

“We’re lucky to have Temple Grandin.” —The New York Times

“Temple Grandin may well think in pictures, but she has mastered the written word.” —Los Angeles Times

“An iconic example of someone who puts her strengths, and even her limitations, to good use.”
—KQED, San Francisco

About the Author

Temple Grandin is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and the author of the New York Times bestsellers Animals in Translation, Animals Make Us Human, The Autistic Brain, and Thinking in Pictures, which became an HBO movie starring Claire Danes. Dr. Grandin has been a pioneer in improving the welfare of farm animals as well as an outspoken advocate for the autism community. She resides in Fort Collins, Colorado.